Living up to expectations, a broken promise.... damn

As a child I was what people called accident prone. Not because I did things to hurt myself but because I always managed to get hurt. No lie, I once had to get twelve stitches from pillow fighting. While it was rarely my fault, I got a reputation with my family for it. So much so my aunts wouldn't let me spend the night at their houses because "something" might happen.

Also as a child I loved heights and because I did, one of my biggest disappointments was the tree house my dad promised to build but never did. I made the same promise to my son last year and this three day weekend was as good a time as any to make good on that promise.

The weather was perfect and since I love working with wood and my hands, I have to admit I was in heaven. Twelve feet above the ground, swinging a hammer, in the trees, with a nice breeze blowing and a spectacular view of the pond, I was a happy man.

I finished most of the hard part by the second day. I promised my middle son he would be walking in the trees by the end of the day. He was anxious but patient. I needed one more support beam before climbing on top and laying the floor. As I placed the beam I dropped a screw. I climbed down the ladder to get it. As I placed my hand on the ladder to climb back up, the ladder shifted. I hardly noticed because my feet were still on the ground. Unfortunately, the drill I left on top of the ladder slid off. It had to be a one in a million shot. It landed on my ring finger. The only part of me touching the ladder.

When I looked down at my finger it appeared as if the drill had all but snapped off the tip of it. It didn't. It did however pulverize it into something that looks like hamburger meat. I won't go into the details about the horrible experience in the emergency room, lets just say with the care I received, after bleeding for three hours in the waiting room, I passed on the doctors suggestion that I be admitted for an open fracture wound for several days.

So now I'm home and things couldn't be more opposite than a second before the drill fell. My promise to Ethan is broken and will not be fulfilled for sometime. While it is just a finger, it happens to be on my right hand, and of course I'm right handed. The Wife also had the doctor explain to me the dangers of gangrene with an open fracture wound. So I'm stuck inside looking out the window at my unfulfilled promise. That is in between all the phone calls. The calls are from my family and friends checking on me and reminding me how they can still remember how accident prone I use to be as a child and apparently still am.

Tomorrow, with any luck, I'll be going to see a hand specialist who will hopefully do something with this damn finger. This whole situation is ridiculous. One finger has brought my life to a screeching ass halt. damn.